Del Potro, Djokovic reach Cincinnati semis

Aug. 17, 2012 10:57 PM ET

MASON, Ohio (AP) -Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro won their Western & Southern Open quarterfinals in straight sets on Friday, setting up a reprise of their bronze medal match at the Olympics. Del Potro won that one.

He won that match," Djokovic said. "It happens. You lose, you win, but the most important thing is to try to move on and become even better and even stronger from those experiences. And try to win."

Del Potro has been nursing a sore left wrist that he'll have examined before the U.S. Open, which he won in 2009. He beat France's Jeremy Chardy 6-1, 6-3 to reach the semifinals.

The Argentine missed most of the 2010 season while recovering from surgery on his right wrist. The doctor who performed that surgery will look at the other one following the Cincinnati tournament.

"The good thing: I'm not getting worse, so I can play," he said. "But anyway, I want to wait (for) what the doctor says because I have experience on my other wrist."

Djokovic reached a Masters semifinal for the second straight week by knocking off Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-2. He won the Rogers Cup in Toronto last Sunday.

The Serb was fresh on Friday, having spent only a half-hour on court the previous day. Russia's Nikolay Davydenko had to quit after losing the first set 6-0 on Thursday night because of a sore shoulder that interfered with his serve.

"It was my best match so far here in this tournament," Djokovic said. "Came in the right moment, really."

Sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki was down a set to Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova when the rains came. Pavlyuchenkova finished off a 6-4, 6-4 win Friday morning, then had eight hours to rest before playing a quarterfinal match against fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova.

No. 9 Li Na's match against Sweden's Johanna Larsson was postponed before they could take the court Thursday night. Li needed only 64 minutes to win 6-2, 6-2 on Friday morning, leaving her less than seven hours to get ready for her quarterfinal match against top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. .

Copyright 2015 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or
distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The
Associated Press is strictly prohibited.